To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘Beyond 4G Network’ or a ‘Post LTE System’. The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, Coordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like. In the 5G system, Hybrid FSK and QAM Modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.
The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of Things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”, “wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “service interface technology”, and “Security technology” have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing Information Technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud Radio Access Network (RAN) as the above-described Big Data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology.
A Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) corresponds to a smart card used while being inserted into a mobile communication UE, etc., is also referred to as a UICC card. The UICC may include an access control module for access to a network of a mobile communication provider. Examples of the access control module include a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), an IP multimedia Service Identity Module (ISIM), etc. The UICC including the USIM may be generally called a USIM card. Likewise, the UICC including the SIM module may be generally called a SIM card. In the following description of the present disclosure, the SIM card will be used as a general meaning including a UICC card, a USIM card, a UICC including an ISIM, etc. That is, when the SIM card is mentioned, the technology can be identically applied to the USIM card, the ISIM card or a general UICC card.
The SIM card stores private information of a mobile communication subscriber, and authenticates the subscriber and creates a traffic security key when the subscriber accesses a mobile communication network, thereby making it possible to safely use the mobile communication.
In a proposal of the present disclosure, the SIM card is generally manufactured as a dedicated card for a specific mobile communication provider in response to a request of the corresponding provider, and is released while authentication information for network access of the corresponding provider, e.g., a USIM application, an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), a k value, an OPc value, etc., is stored therein in advance. Thus, the corresponding mobile communication service provider receives a delivery of the manufactured SIM card to provide the same to the subscriber, and thereafter performs the management, such as installation, modification, deletion, and the like, of an application in the UICC using technologies such as Over The Air (OTA), etc. when necessary. The subscriber may insert the UICC card into his/her mobile communication UE to use the network and application services of the corresponding mobile communication service provider, and when replacing the UE, the subscriber may move and insert the UICC card from the existing UE to a new UE to use the authentication information, the mobile communication phone numbers, the personal telephone number list, and the like, which are stored in the UICC card, in the new UE as they are.
However, it is inconvenient for the SIM card to allow a mobile communication UE user to receive a service of another mobile communication provider. There is inconvenience in that the mobile communication UE user should physically acquire the SIM card in order to receive a service from the mobile communication provider. For example, there is inconvenience in that when travelling to other countries, the mobile communication UE user should acquire a local SIM card in order to receive a local mobile communication service. A roaming service can solve the inconvenience to some degree, but a fee thereof is expensive. Further, when a contract between communication providers is not established, it is impossible to receive a service.
Meanwhile, when the SIM module is remotely downloaded to and installed in the UICC card, it is possible to solve such inconvenience considerably. That is, a user can download a SIM module corresponding to a mobile communication service to the UICC card when necessary. Further, such a UICC card can download and install a plurality of SIM modules, and only one SIM module from among them can be selected and used. Such a UICC card may fix the SIM module to a UE or may not fix the SIM module to the UE. In particular, the UICC, which is used while being fixed to the UE, is called an embedded UICC (eUICC). In general, the eUICC implies a UICC card which is used while being fixed to the UE and can remotely download and select the SIM module. In the present disclosure, the UICC card, which can remotely download and select the SIM module, is commonly called the eUICC. That is, the UICC card, which is fixed to or is not fixed to the UE, from among UICC cards which can remotely download and select the SIM module, is commonly called the eUICC. Further, information on the downloaded SIM module is used as a term called an eUICC profile.